Tribute to Underoos

This page in my scrapbook says "Christmas 1981". I'm the short one. For those of you who know when Col was born, this really puts things into perspective. He was about this age at the time:

P.S. In case we weren't sure before, we now know whose nose Addie has.

Baby Talk

Today I was on my lunch break and had just fed the baby when Col called. We talked a minute and then I said "Here, talk to the baby" and held the phone to her ear.

I expected to hear some high pitched baby talk - maybe a "Hey cute girl, daddy misses you." I didn't hear him say anything so I said "Is daddy talking to you honey? Daddy's going to talk to you, aren't you excited?!" I still didn't hear anything on his end so I put the phone up to my ear and asked "Aren't you going to talk to the baby?"

His answer: "I'm with a student."

Yeah.... that might have sounded funny. Plus, you don't want anything distracting a driver's ed student.

Subtlety is spelled weird.

I could really go for some letter cookies right now.

Don't those look scrumptious? Little letter cookies just begging to be eaten.

No names are mentioned in this post.

Someone in my household likes to intentionally sing incorrect lyrics to songs. Here are a few samples from this morning:

"Up above the world so bright, like a Simon in the sky..." (real song)
"So tired, tired of waiting, tired of waiting around..." (real song)
"The twenty seconds of loneliness..." (real song)

We can thank Sunday Night Karaoke for that last one. And yes, he/she did sing it in a deep, scratchy voice. We like to keep it authentic.

Volunteers needed for film festival.

Not just any film festival...

The International Horror and Sci-Fi Film Festival is in need of volunteers. Pre-festival volunteers are needed for Street Team promotions, marketing material distribution and research. Volunteers are given a festival pass to the Phoenix Film Festival in April.

Volunteering opportunities start this weekend (Sep. 23-24) with Street Team promotion at the Phoenix Cactus Comicon, a comic book exposition which includes four hour shifts on Saturday. For more information visit the Phoenix Film Festival website or the International Horror and Sci-Fi Film Festival website.

I never should have let him buy that power hedge trimmer.

This is what our bougainvillea looked like a few days ago. Lush, beautiful... everything that bougainvillea should be. That's Col standing under it, smiling and hatching his plan for "trimming it back", which needed to be done since they're painting our complex.
This is what it looks like now. Oh, the humanity!

*The first picture is not an actual picture of our house, bougainvillea, or Col. The second picture, unfortunately, is.

She's a scrapper.

A lady at my work had a baby one week after I did. Today they met for the first time. It started off friendly, with maybe a little trash talking on both sides.

Then there was a little provoking, and Addie may have slapped Rachel in the face.
Addie then moved it up a notch with hair and ear pulling.
Yes, that is Addie giving Rachel a "fish hook" and trying to eat her face.
This was followed by a brief staring contest.

In the end, they kissed and made up.

His name is Adeline.

Last night we were eating at our favorite Thai place and the owner saw Adeline in her car seat and said "What a cute little boy! How old is he?" Now, this is not the first time this has happened, and I'm sure it won't be the last. She doesn't always wear pink and she doesn't always have barretts or bows in her hair. Last night she was wearing green so I don't blame her for thinking she was a boy.

So, not wanting to embarrass her, I just answered "5 months". She cooed at her a bit and then asked "What's his name?" Oops. Adeline isn't a very masculine name. If it were Kelly or Jordan or Chris we'd have been fine, but if I told the truth, she'd know she'd guessed the wrong gender. I glanced at Col and was about to make up a boy's name when Col said "She's a girl." Awkwardness ensued.

The Glamorous World of Michael Pollack

I first saw his picture all over the walls at the discount movie theater he built. I then started seeing it on signs by vacant lots. Next he started showing up in the mail at my job - on invitations, ads and on the cover of "Our Real Estate Community" magazine which came in the mail today here at work.

Little did I know that he was once the most famous man in Houston. Welcome to The Glamorous World of Michael Pollack. Here's a gem you'll find there:

A Complex, Sensitive Man

But Michael Pollack was oh-so-much more than just a real estate genius. He also had a sensitive side. Michael revealed his sensitive side in a 1985 interview with Houston City Magazine. "I like to design jewelry," he said. "I designed everything I'm wearing." Stunning diamond and gold-encrusted watches, and huge medallions with eagles were his favorites. Why did he like eagles so much? "There's an old saying: 'Doves fly but eagles soar.' I knew Colonial House was going to soar." He even designed his own clothing, including his renowned leather/suede/wool leisure suits. If only the real estate bust had held off another year or two, Michael Pollack would now be known as a leading fashion designer!

If only!

Everybody dance now! (cont.)

Ever since I woke up early to vote and found C&C Music Factory blaring in my ear, we've been waging the "Alarm Clock War" where I try to set it back to a decent hour, and Col sets it back to 5:30 a.m. He's a snoozer, and likes to wake up and know that he can still sleep 2 more hours. I like that feeling myself, except I'm finding that I can't go back to sleep and I just end up feeding and playing with the baby while she kicks and pokes her sleeping daddy. I wouldn't really mind being forced to wake up so early, except that the alarm is set to Disney Radio and we keep forgetting to change the station.

This morning when it went off at 5:30 a.m. I heard "I LIKE TO MOVE IT! MOVE IT! I LIKE TO MOVE IT! MOVE IT!" In case you don't remember that song, it was a little ditty by Reel 2 Real. (I had to google it).

I rarely use all caps. I only did so to emphasize to you how loud this was. I had turned up this very radio Saturday, as it doubles as the CD player I turn on when I'm cleaning the house. Now, imagine it loud enough that I can hear it on the other side of the house with the vacuum on. We don't even have a vacuum since we got wood floors, but you get the point.

There's a reason it's legal to change your name.

I've seen many a name in my day that I wouldn't necessarily want to have myself. Some are worse than others. This one takes the cake.

My famous nieces.

Credit for this one goes to my husband. I will, however, take credit for the one above. I expect to be contacted by Parenting magazine any day now.

Everybody dance now!

Two days in a row this week I had to wake up at 5:30 a.m. - first to vote and then to take my parents to the airport. BOTH days when the alarm went off at 5:30 a.m., the song playing on the radio was "Everybody Dance Now" by C&C Music Factory. I felt like I was living Groundhog Day over and over. The first morning the timing was perfect and the first thing I heard was "EVERYBODY DANCE NOW!" (much louder than necessary). The second morning I heard "Let the music take control....Let the rhythm move you" (also much louder than necessary).

No one should have to wake up to that. Not only did it give me a rough start to the day, BOTH days, it has rendered me violently ill. C&C Music Factory, I blame you for my misery.


P.S. You thought the Groundhog Day link would go to the movie cover, didn't you? I'm delirious. Don't expect anything to make sense.

Anybody who's everybody is up in here.

I used to check the new Strong Bad emails pretty religiously - every Monday a new one was posted, and by Monday afternoon I had seen it. I had to cut back once I started talking like Strong Bad. I could also do a great impersonation of homestarrunner.

So I haven't seen the recent ones. I'll have to get on that.

For the time being, this one is still my personal favorite. This one is a close second.

and this is the sticker they gave me

This morning, at 5:50 a.m. I arrived at the closest voting poll to our house, which is in a nearby elementary school. I went early so I wouldn't have to wait in line. I was there early enough to witness the volunteers being sworn in, which was pretty cool. Luckily, they didn't notice me taking a picture with my camera phone.

They were all pretty impressed to see me there so early. They said "Now that's dedication!" and "You're a real patriot!" "Good for you!" Maybe their enthusiasm was sparked by the fact that I was still in my PJ's. Anyway, it felt nice to be respected for my voting zeal.



And then my name wasn't on the list.

So much for all that respect and admiration. All of a sudden I was the most annoying person in their world. They had to fill out a provisional ballot which took forever and much chaos ensued. After much longer than it should've taken I went home and crawled back into bed. It was all worth it - I accomplished my goal which was:

VOTE YES ON PROP 401!!

and this is the shirt they gave me

This morning as I was driving to my 7:00 a.m. dentist appt., I heard on the radio that KFYI had a "We will never forget" billboard at Central and Thomas that they were encouraging people to come out and sign. It would then be displayed here for a week before being sent to New York to be put up there.

My appointment took all of 3 minutes (bite adjustment) so I had plenty of time to sign the billboard. As I was leaving, one of the guys there gave me this shirt. In case you're thinking that's MY sweet beard, I should let you know that the shirt doesn't quite fit me.

Snowblahg

A good friend of mine just started up an online snowboarding magazine. I'm pretty sure the way it works is the more people that sign up for an account and comment regularly, the easier he's able to get advertisers so if you're at all interested (and I think you are) sign up.

http://www.snowblahg.com/

I like it.

If anyone sees a Dunder Mifflin snow globe on ebay or maybe Craigslist, get it for me. I'd pay you good money for it. (At least $2.50)

They're just for decorations!

I'm wondering if any of you ever came into contact with a car that had whistle tips. This is the first I've heard of them. Evidently they go woo! woo! You know what I'm saying? Then you've got the flow, man.

Nature was good to me.

If this shirt wasn't $78 every guy I know would be getting one for Christmas. I would've bid on this one since it went for $43.00 (what a deal!) but for some reason, not all guys wear fuchsia.

The Bourne Ultimatum

I'm a little worried about the second sequel (threequel?) to The Bourne Identity. I really liked the first two, but when I heard there will be a third I thought "What more could there possibly be?" Well, here is the plot outline for The Bourne Ultimatum:

Bourne races to discover the final mysteries of his past while a government agent tries to track him down after a shootout in Moscow.

So.... I thought that was the plot line of The Bourne Supremacy. Maybe they forgot that they already made a sequel?

I actually first heard about this one while reading a little blurb about Oceans Thirteen. That's another threequel that makes me think "Really?"

The Wikipedia article on it states "This will be the final installment of the series." Yeah, I'll believe that when I see it.

Humdinger

Anyone who has played Cranium knows what a Humdinger is. You're probably thinking Col added this picture to my blog, but I actually posted this one myself. On the way home from Payson, we played a simplified version with my parents, where someone picks a song to hum and the first one who thinks of it yells the title so loudly that the baby wakes up.

I am what you might call "tone deaf". This condition is magnified when I'm trying to hum. I also don't have what you might call "rhythm" and usually I hum it way too fast and don't hold notes long enough.

Col, on the other hand is humdiddlyumptious. He is as good at humming as he is at Saved by the Bell trivia. He can hum any tune on demand and he actually sort of sings the words with his mouth closed so you can even make out the words half the time.

For this particular game, we had to pick songs that spanned the generations, as my parents wouldn't necessarily recognize some of the songs that Col and I would know, and vice versa. We pretty much ended up humming your standard karaoke songs. David Bowie was well-represented, as were the Beatles and CCR.

The second game we played was that memory game where you say something like "I'm going camping and I'm taking _______" and then each person adds something. Our list ended up as:

I'm going to Europe and I'm taking a camera, a banjo, an easel, mentholatum, Abreva, a turkey leg, a turkey baster, a portable toilet seat, a whistle, shoelaces, a boat, a life jacket, toenail polish, a moped, a spare tire, a stop sign, little Addie, a turkey wing, a brake light, and one more thing that we couldn't think of (I admit Col helped me remember the list).

Col won the game. I was the second one out.

The List

I have heard whisperings of a list Col made that in some way laid out the highlights of a trip to Yellowstone Park. I have never seen the list so I don't know what exactly it was, but I have made a list of my own for the highlights of this past weekend up at the cabin.

Labor Day at The Cabin

1. "Is it my birthday?"

2. Carl acting out "energetic".

3. Carl acting out "burglar" (I could list several others, but I'll stop myself at 2).

4. "Mom, did they make a bad choice?"

5. Robyn and Aubrey getting stuck on the ATVs and no one answering their phones when we called for help.

6. Col and Cameron getting lost on the ATVs and breaking both horns. "Follow the telephone poles."

7. "Watching movies is my favorite thing to do."

8. How many Carters does it take to build a sandbox?

9. Why can't you use a skill saw to cut off a low-lying tree branch?

10. "Huge spider in the kitchen."